The Thunder's Accelerated Rebuild Changing Draft Approach

As the Thunder chases the Play-In Tournament, drafting players becomes more of a challenge.

The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to wind down their season in pursuit of the Play-In Tournament. Now, a simple loss in the Play-In Tournament would send them to the lottery, which changed things, but not by much.

The way the Thunder are set up, their season could realistically go either way. They’re about to travel to Los Angeles for a season-defining stretch of basketball, and it can change the way the Thunder draft.

At first, it seemed as if the Thunder could select within the top six picks of the draft for the third season, and now it’s looking like they’re likely going to draft later in the lottery. This may be better for the Thunder in terms of developing their current players while bringing on another potential project-type player.

If you’re looking at the current state of the team, the Thunder already have plenty of developing young talent while pursuing postseason play, and they’re only going to get more competitive from here on out. So, the approach to drafting has to match that. The next bit of talent, if not a top-tier, immediate impact rookie, will have to be a project player that can be developed through the Thunder’s system and player for their G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue.

There are prospects that fit that mold for the Thunder in this draft. GG Jackson and Cam Whitmore are two players that the Thunder could target in their wide range of potential drafting positions, as they’re young wings with high upside.

However, those guys are probably going to be drafted before the Thunder make their selection, so they’re going to have to hit the drawing board to draft another underground prospect like Jalen Williams. Either way, drafting is going to get much tougher going forward as the Thunder won’t have the luxury of drafting quite as high in the next couple of drafts. This, though, is a good sign of the Thunder’s rebuild and what they’ve done with their current pool of talent.

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